


Memories

by Ozpin_Lover_MP



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, give Ozpin a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 23:19:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17610968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ozpin_Lover_MP/pseuds/Ozpin_Lover_MP
Summary: Whilst staying in Argus Oscar has a nightmare about Ozpin's past. Everyone starts to realise that they've treated Ozpin a bit... harshly.





	Memories

**Author's Note:**

> TW: referenced past rape. One swear word. 
> 
> This starts when RWBY and JNR and Qrow and Oscar are staying at the Terracotta house-hold

Ruby groaned as she checked the time. One in the morning. That was way too early to be awake. 

Stumbling in the dark, she got up and made her way across the room to the door. She didn’t even really need the bathroom, but it was more of an automatic reaction than anything else. Wake up and at who knows what hour and go to the bathroom. 

She clumsily made her way down the hall. Ruby hoped that she didn’t accidentally wake up Saphron and Terra. 

She got to the bathroom and stumbled in. 

Oh! The light was on. Ruby put her hand over her eyes, momentarily blinded. 

Blinking, Ruby took in her surroundings. Ugh, smelt bad in here. And there was another person. Who was in the middle of throwing up. Oh. 

“Oscar?” Ruby said worriedly, quickly going to his side. 

Oscar was sobbing softly. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, clutching the edge of the toilet with the other. 

He shook his head. 

Ruby gently put an arm around him and helped up to the sink, so that he could wash his face. She flushed the toilet whilst she was at it. 

Then Ruby gently put a hand to Oscar’s forehead. He didn’t feel like he had a temperature. 

Oscar, clutched the edge of the sink, still sobbing. 

“Oscar? What wrong?” Ruby asked gently. 

Oscar just shook his head. He brought one hand up to his face, crying into it. 

Ruby gently pulled him into a hug. 

“I’m sorry,” Oscar whispered, clutching the front of her top. 

“It’s okay,” Ruby mumbled. “Whatever’s wrong, we can fix it,” 

Oscar shook his head. “You can’t,” he whispered hoarsely. 

“Do you think you’ll throw up again? Or should we go back to the main room? It’s warmer in there,” Ruby asked.

“I think… I think I’m okay now, let’s go back to the main room,” Oscar whispered through his tears. 

They quickly made their way back to the room where everyone was sleeping. 

“Who’s there?” a voice asked, as they went in. 

The light was turned on. There were groans from all over the room, as everyone awoke. 

“Yang! Turn the light off!” Nora grumbled. 

“Oscar? Is something wrong?” asked Weiss, seeing his tear-stained face. 

Oscar walked to a wall, and leant back against it, sinking to the floor, hiding his face in his knees, still sobbing. He couldn’t get the image out of his head… the pale white face and red eyes… what she had done to him. 

_ ‘I’m so sorry _ ’ 

Oscar almost jumped at the voice. So that’s how it was huh? Now, when he really didn’t need anything else to think about, Ozpin decided to talk again? Well, he wasn’t going to deal with that right now. No way. 

_ ‘I’ve been trying to keep the flashbacks away from you… but I… I can’t really control our dreams. I’m sorry,’  _

Wait… Flashbacks? That had actually happened? 

_ ‘I’m so sorry Oscar,’  _

No, no, no! That couldn’t have actually happened! It was just a nightmare! 

_ ‘Well, it didn’t happen to you,’  _

But… the hell? Jinn hadn’t told them anything like that! 

_ ‘And I’m glad she didn’t,’  _ there was a strong feeling of bitterness to the voice,  _ ‘I don’t exactly relish in people finding out about… my past trauma. Jinn revealed quite enough, _ ’ 

Past… trauma? 

Ozpin didn’t say anything. 

Sighing in frustration, Oscar dug deeper into his mind. What was wrong with Ozpin… why was he so upset.

Suddenly, Oscar came across him in his mind. 

Ozpin flinched. 

Oscar came closer and got down on his knees next to him. He could feel… everything that Ozpin was feeling right now. So much regret, and pain. Shame, and even some fear. 

And... Ozpin was crying. 

Oscar pushes himself forward and hugged him. True, he was still mad, but… it was a hug of solidarity. The fear… that fear, it stemmed from the same nightmare. 

_ “You’re safe”  _ Oscar thought forcefully, as sobs racking his body,  _ “You’re safe and she can’t hurt you anymore. She’ll never hurt you like that again!”  _

_ “Shouldn’t I be the one comforting you?”  _ Ozpin thought almost ironically, but returning the hug all the same.  _ “It’s my fault you… saw that,”  _

_ “It’s not… you said it yourself, you can’t control our dreams!”  _ Oscar thought. He sobbed a little more.  _ “How could she… how could she do that to you!?” _

And there was bitterness. And pain. Pain that ran so deep… 

_ “Ozpin… what… what happened?”  _ Oscar asked. 

_ “I… I don’t want to frighten you,”  _ Ozpin mumbled. 

_ “But… Whatever it is… you’ve been having flashbacks…”  _ Oscar knew that that was true. He could feel it. In fact… he could feel…  _ “One of the reasons you’ve been trying to separate yourself from me… is to protect me from your memories?”  _ Oscar realised. 

Ozpin nodded into Oscar’s shoulder.  _ “You don’t… you don’t deserve that kind of pain… it’s my burden and I don’t want to trouble you with it until absolutely necessary,”  _

Oscar gently put a hand on Ozpin’s chest.  _ “This is our fault though, isn’t it? You- you’ve been having flashbacks ever since Jinn- I’m so sorry,”  _

Ozpin didn’t reply. 

_ “You’ve had flashbacks before though,”  _ Oscar continued. It was odd, but he could feel the truth in the words.  _ “So, you think you can deal with it. And the nightmares… they never really went away, did they?”  _

Oscar took a deep breath. There was so much pain. So much guilt. Of course, Ozpin tried to hide it from him, it wasn’t exactly a nice feeling. 

_ “That nightmare… it happened more than once didn’t it,”  _ Oscar mumbled. 

Ozpin shook slightly, trying to control his sobs. It was all the confirmation that Oscar needed. 

_ “And Salem… Oh, Ozpin. She was abusive wasn’t she?”  _ Oscar realised.  _ “And… it’s not just your memories from over a thousand years ago. She’s captured you since… and… and tortured you _ ” Oscar hiccoughed.  _ “And you’ve been reliving all your worst memories, because of us!”  _

_ “I’m sorry,”  _ Ozpin whispered.  _ “I never wanted this burden to fall on you _ ,” 

_ “I… it’s not your fault,”  _ Oscar managed. He was still angry, sure, but maybe not at Ozpin. Ozpin… Ozpin had only done what he thought was best. 

Oscar was suddenly more aware of his surroundings. Oh. Everyone was crowded around him. They looked extremely worried. 

_ “I should probably go and…”  _ Oscar shrugged. 

Ozpin nodded.  _ “That’s probably a good idea. And Oscar?”  _ He paused for a second,  _ “thank you,”  _

Oscar finally opened his eyes and looked around the room. 

“Oscar? Are you with us?” Ruby’s face filled his vision. Oscar nodded. 

Ruby sighed in relief and took a step back. She had been really worried there for a second. 

“What happened?” asked Nora. 

“I…” Oscar started, “Ozpin…” 

“You talked to Ozpin!” Yang yelled. Oscar flinched. She was immediately shushed by everyone.

“This isn’t our house, so it’s best if you don’t wake the others up,” Qrow drawled quietly. 

“But still!” Yang continued in a hushed voice, “he left us and he suddenly talks to Oscar in the middle of the night?” 

“Oscar, what happened?” Ruby asked gently. 

“I… We had a nightmare -  a memory in fact,” Oscar mumbled. 

“See!” Yang banged her fists on the ground, “he’s still causing problems!” 

Oscar shook his head, and Blake gently put a hand on Yang’s shoulder. “Maybe we should hear what Oscar has to say,” Blake suggested. 

Yang folded her arms, huffing. Blake pulled her away a bit. 

“One of the reasons - part of the reason why Ozpin isn’t talking is because he’s trying to protect me,” Oscar started, “he- because of Jinn- he’s been having flashbacks- of some really nasty stuff. He doesn’t want me to see them,” 

“What sort of things?” Ruby asked slowly. 

Oscar started to cry again. “This is all our fault- you don’t understand- what we’ve put him through. Salem- Salem- she…” 

Oscar hid his face in his knees, sobbing. Ruby gently put her arm around him and pulled him into a hug. 

“Salem raped him,” Oscar finished in a whisper, “amongst other things. She was so… abusive. She yelled a lot. And later on… after they’d separated… and she killed the kids- she captured him again! Multiple times! And she-she tortured him to death. And he’s been reliving that! Because of us!” 

Blake’s ears fell. Everyone looked away guilty. 

“That’s awful,” Weiss started. “That’s- we had no idea-“ 

“I should have noticed!” Oscar whispered, “I should have realised something was wrong! He’s in my head for goodness sake! And he- we hurt him so much-“ 

“Well, he kinda deserves it…” Yang started. 

“Yang!” Blake exclaimed, “Nobody, and I mean  _ nobody _ , deserves to be in an abusive situation. Not ever. And they certainly don’t deserve to be reminded of it afterwards,” 

“But-“ Yang started. 

“No,” Blake interrupted, “listen. That is the worst possible thing someone can go through! Trust me- I- I know. Adam- Adam did that too. And being reminded of it- even worse _ flashbacks _ \- are just horrible. No matter what he did wrong, he doesn’t deserve to be going through that,” 

“I have been thinking that his past isn’t really our business,” Ren put in, “we’ve only known him for about a year, and for half of that, he was our teacher. I didn’t tell any of you about my past for a long time- and that’s more about privacy and trust than keeping secrets. The only thing he kept hidden from us really was the fact that Salem is immortal,” 

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about that,” Weiss put in, “and is it really that big of a deal? I mean sure, she’s evil, and probably helping Grimm or something, but it doesn’t change our job. We’re hunters and huntresses. We are supposed to protect people. Just because Salem is immortal, it doesn’t mean that other people’s lives aren’t worth saving,” 

There was a momentary silence. 

“We’ve really fucked up, haven’t we?” Qrow put in. He looked shocked and upset. “I had no idea- Ozpin, if you can hear us then I am so so sorry,” 

“We all are,” Ruby added. “We never meant to put you through all that. What we did- it as bullying. We shouldn’t have ganged up on you like that. I thought- we didn’t trust you. We should have. And we are so so sorry,” 

“He still should apologise too-“ Yang muttered. 

“Yang!” Ruby exclaimed angrily. 

“What? He made a mistake!” Yang exclaimed. 

“And you’ve never made any?” Ruby asked angrily. “What about when you decided to take both of us to find your mum? What about when you thought it would be funny to make me eat cinnamon? What about when you decided to mope about in Patch whilst I travelled all across Anima to get to Haven?!” 

Finally, finally, Yang shut up. 

“And you’ve never apologised for any of those things,” Ruby continued, “yet I still forgive you! So you should pay it forward, and forgive Ozpin for  _ not wanting to be re-traumatised by seeing his worst memories play out in 3D all around us!”  _

There was silence in the room.

There was a loud snore from next door. 

Ruby turned back to Oscar. “As I was saying, Ozpin, if you can hear us, then we are really really sorry,”

_ “Should I talk to them?”  _ Ozpin asked.

Oscar could feel the question behind the question though. Did they really mean it? Somehow, in Ozpin’s twisted swirl of emotions, he had convinced himself that it was all his own fault. 

_ Thanks Salem, _ Oscar thought sarcastically,  _ just completely destroy his self-confidence why don’t you? _

Despite that, he nodded. 

His eyes shone yellow for a moment, and he stilled. He stopped sobbing. Tears were still running down his face, but Ozpin has a lot more self-control that Oscar. 

“I-“ he started, but everyone cut him off by hugging him. Even Qrow cautiously joined in. 

“I forgive all of you,” Ozpin mumbled. 

“Just like that?” Qrow asked. 

“I find it tiresome to hold grudges,” Ozpin explained. 


End file.
